Council Minutes May 30-June 1, 2002 Silversmith Crowne Plaza Hotel Chicago,

President Steve Hensen called the meeting to order at 8:35 a.m. Present: Vice President Peter Hirtle, Treasurer Elizabeth Adkins, and Council members Danna Bell-Russel, Tom Connors, Jackie Dooley, Mark Greene, Becky Haglund-Tousey, David Haury, Richard Pearce-Moses, Megan Sniffin-Marinoff. Thomas Battle was absent due to illness. Also present were Executive Director Susan Fox and Meetings Director Debra Nolan.

ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA

Hirtle moved and Bell-Russel seconded adoption of the agenda as amended. PASSED.

APPROVAL OF THE JANUARY 2002 MINUTES

Greene moved and Adkins seconded approval of the January 2002 minutes as amended. PASSED.

DISCUSSION WITH JOHN CARLIN, ARCHIVIST OF THE

Council briefly discussed a range of issues via conference call with John Carlin, Archivist of the United States. These issues included, among others, the pending retirement of Ann Newhall, Executive Director of NHPRC; Hensen's meeting at the with administration officials on the issue of Bush's on the ; Web preservation and electronic archives; and the NARA budget.

REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Greene reported on electronic votes taken by Council between meetings, which were: Accepting the revised page from the auditor's report to more clearly delineate lease expenses; approval of funding in support of the Eldred case amicus; endorsement of an NCC letter to Mayor Bloomberg on the matter of the Giuliani mayoral records; endorsement of Tom Connors statement to the City Council on the Giuliani papers; endorsement of the New York City Archives Roundtable statement on the Giuliani papers; and agreement not to register an opinion in the Catalonian archives debate. Adkins moved approval, Tousey seconded. PASSED.

REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

Hensen reported on Executive Order 13233 and HR 4187. He participated in a number of media related events. He interviewed with the Bill Moyers Now program on PBS, but that segment landed on the cutting room floor, preempted by Rep. Burton's statement. He was invited to appear on the Lehrer News Hour, but a snowstorm prevented travel to the broadcast studio. He was, however, interviewed by Nina Totenberg on NPR. Morning Edition devoted 16 minutes on two consecutive days of excellent coverage. He most recently met at the White House with Judge Gonzales and others. In general it was a positive meeting. Hensen expressed hope that SAA would continue this level of advocacy.

He reported on the CUSTARD (Canada-US Task Force on Archival Description) April meeting in Washington, DC. The group was convened in order to support the process of reconciling the two principal North American standards for archival description with each other and with a broader international standard. It would probably not be until this time next year for the release of what was tentatively called "Describing Archives: A Content Standard." It would also be published in French and would have a stronger theoretical basis than APPM. The expectation was that this would lay the foundation for a truly international content standard. It would give archivists a way to organize description of records in a consistent and logical way. Selection of Jean Dryden to serve as Editor was exactly the right choice.

Hensen then gave an update on the work of the ad hoc Fellows Steering Committee, chaired by Bill Joyce. The Committee would develop a proposed structure to present at the August Council meeting.

He concluded by reporting he was recently elected to the NINCH board of directors for a two-year term.

REPORT OF THE VICE PRESIDENT

Hirtle said he was not as far along on appointments as he would like due to some unexpected work obligations. He did have the local arrangements committee appointments made with Sue Hodson and Luke Swetland serving as co-chairs. Alexandra Gressitt, a godsend as chair of the Awards Committee, agreed to serve an additional year. He said he hoped to fill the other appointments within two weeks.

The Eldred v. Ashcroft amicus turned out very well. He recently learned the Justice Department asked for an extension until the end of August to file their brief. Eldred would then have until the end of September to respond to the Justice brief, but amici cannot. Hirtle suggested it would be worthwhile to add two new members to the Intellectual Property Working Group and suggested some possible names. Council agreed. Hirtle said he would follow up.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT

Nolan reported on possible locations for the 2007 annual meeting. The Fairmont Hotel in Chicago offered extremely competitive rates. Greene moved and Bell-Russel seconded the motion to hold the 2007 annual meeting in Chicago. PASSED.

Nolan also gave a Birmingham update, noting that people were signing up on the Web and signing up for tours early, a good sign. Also, the exhibitor spaces were nearly filled.

ELECTION OF COUNCIL MEMBER TO EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Council members elected by ballot Tom Connors to serve on the 2002-2003 executive committee, commencing at the close of the 2002 annual meeting. Dooley and Battle would serve on the 2002 Nominating Committee.

REPORT OF THE TREASURER

Adkins reported that the Society experienced a better than expected fiscal year 2002, and projected a net gain of nearly $34,000 against an originally budgeted net gain of $11,000. The favorable result could be attributed to a better than expected attendance at the Washington, D.C. meeting, more robust publication sales, and a slight increase in new members. The education program did less than expected, largely as a result of multiple workshop cancellations post September 11.

Adkins presented the fiscal year 2003 budget, which projected 900 attendees for the Birmingham meeting, a 21% drop in revenues from budgeted 2002 revenues, placing a strain on the rest of the budget. The budget did, however, project a slight increase in publications and education revenues and a cut in general and administrative expenses, to help make up for some of the revenue shortfall. In spite of these pressures, the FY03 budget projected a net gain of $2,800.

SURVEY FUNDS

Adkins then discussed means to fund the surveys contained in the Membership Marketing Action Plan for year one as presented and discussed on Planning Day and at the Winter Council meeting. She proposed that of the projected $34,000 net gain for fiscal year 2002, Council reduce that amount approximately $10,000 through early payment of maintenance contracts and dues normally paid in fiscal year 2003. This early payment would provide an additional $10,000 in the FY03 budget. By taking this amount and creating a new Surveys line item in the operating budget, SAA could budget for periodic membership and salary surveys, instead of relying on the special funds.

To accommodate the cost of surveys for the coming fiscal year, Adkins proposed that Council establish a balance of $42,000 in the Surveys line item from the following sources: $20,000 from the FY2002 surplus, $10,000 from the FY2003 budget, and $12,000 from contributions of $4,000 each from the Norton, Education, and Publications funds.

Greene moved to approve the membership budget for year one of the marketing plan. Adkins seconded. PASSED with Hirtle in abstention.

ONLINE COURSE DEVELOPMENT FUNDS

Adkins moved approval of $20,000 from the Education Fund for development of a Basic Electronic Records online course and $5,000 from the Education Fund for development of content for an online course in Photographic Archives, with the income from registration fees to be contributed back to the Education Fund. Greene seconded.

Hirtle said he was opposed to the motion. Until the Committee on Education and Professional Development issued its report on continuing education Council did not have a full view of where continuing education fit within the overall SAA agenda. He was operating on the assumption that continuing education had to recoup its expenses. Without seeing a business plan for the electronics records course that proved it could realize a profit, he felt uncomfortable supporting a subsidy. The bigger question was whether or not the Society wanted to fund continuing education on a continuing basis. He did not have enough information to vote. Connors said he supported investment in SAA's mission. The Society, he said, was not a business and should not be expected to operate as such. He was, however, concerned about the cost of development. He supported taking a risk, but it would need to be well managed. He was especially concerned that the Education Directors were stretched too thin and that there had not been enough thought to class size, etc. The onus would be on Fox to see that the online courses were managed correctly. The first step of developing the courses would be to see if they were successful, and to develop a shell that could be used in other online courses.

Pearce-Moses said he heard parts of a business plan in the directors' presentation. In terms of "is it worth the investment?" the Society needed to try it in order to find out.

Bell-Russel moved to table the motion until more concrete information was developed and the Education Directors explored other options and issues and developed a clear business plan of how the $20,000 would be invested. Pearce-Moses seconded. Bell-Russel and Connors voted in favor. Greene, Hirtle, Haury, Sniffin-Marinoff, Dooley and Hensen voted against. Pearce- Moses and Tousey abstained. FAILED.

Council then voted on Adkins original motion. In favor: Greene, Haury, Tousey, Sniffin-Marinoff, Dooley, Adkins, Pearce- Moses, Hensen. Opposed: Hirtle. Abstain: Bell-Russel, Connors. PASSED.

DRAFT INVESTMENT POLICY

Adkins presented a draft investment policy and asked Council to review the document for further discussion at the August meeting.

NEW BUSINESS

TASK FORCE ON ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING INTERIM REPORT

Haury presented the interim report from the Task Force on Electronic Publishing. He said the subcommittee reports contained in the interim report had not yet been fully vetted by the task force. He also cautioned that the rapidly changing landscape in electronic publishing could well change again in six to nine months. The report addressed critical services to members, especially the newsletter and the journal, among others. The task force recognized that SAA would not be able to implement all the recommendations in the report, and that some of the recommendations may be too advanced for the Society, either technically or economically. Some issues the task force ended up addressing surprised them, such as aggregation and disaggregation of content. The vision contained therein would take some time to implement, but the task force looked forward to Council response and comment.

Hensen commended the task force on an astonishingly thorough job of addressing just the right issues. He thanked task force Chair Rob Spindler and the rest of the task force for its work.

Council echoed Hensen's commendation and provided Haury with advice and comment for the task force to consider for its final report to Council in August. Council asked that Fox post the interim report on the Web site for member comment.

PROPOSED ICA SPA MEETING IN CHICAGO

Karen Benedict, SAA's representative to the International Council on Archives Section on Professional Associations, had inquired whether or not Council would support a meeting of SPA at the SAA offices in 2003. Benedict indicated that she would handle the logistics of the meeting and asked only that SAA provide the meeting site and a very modest reception. Pearce-Moses moved that SAA host the ICA SPA meeting in Chicago in 2003. Adkins seconded. PASSED.

ARCHIVES & ARCHIVISTS ADVISORY BOARD

Fox said Pearce-Moses would be rotating off Council's Archives & Archivists discussion list advisory subcommittee thereby creating a vacancy. Greene said the Executive Committee had discussed this vacancy and thought that incoming Council member Elaine Engst would be a good replacement. Adkins moved that Elaine Engst be assigned to serve on the Archives & Archivists listserv subcommittee. Bell-Russel seconded. PASSED.

STUDENT CHAPTER APPLICATION

Greene moved approval of the University application to become a student chapter of SAA. Hirtle seconded. PASSED.

MUSEUM ARCHIVES SECTION GUIDELINES On behalf of Thomas Battle, absent due to illness, Greene presented the Museum Archives Section Guidelines. The guidelines came to Council via the Standards Committee, which vetted and approved the process. Based largely on the College & University Section Guidelines, Greene said it was a useful document, particularly in institutions where administrators were inclined to appoint individuals without experience to archival functions. Sniffin-Marinoff expressed concern over the assumption that a museum was an independent entity, because many museums operated within the context of another institution, such as in academia. She asked that the section clarify that it was speaking for independent museums. Fox said she would speak to the Section chair to obtain the revision.

DESIGNATED STUDENT PAPER SESSION AT SAA ANNUAL MEETINGS

Dooley reviewed discussion of a proposal to designate a permanent slot for student paper presentations at SAA annuals meetings that originally occurred on the Council listserv. Dooley said that Council, as a corporate oversight body, had an obligation to provide an overarching view of what was important to SAA and therefore to balance representation at annual meetings. Students and student chapters needed a special place in the program. A recent Program Committee inadvertently dropped student paper sessions and by doing so exposed a need for a dedicated slot.

Greene supported the idea. He did not think that creating a permanent place for student papers needed to be seen as a precedent that Council was micromanaging the program, but instead that Council had previously agreed that integrating students into SAA was a priority.

Hirtle said he would be more supportive of the proposal if it were a guideline instead of a requirement. Sniffin-Marinoff said it was important to keep in mind the academic year the difficulty of meeting submission deadlines in early October.

Dooley moved that the guidelines for the program committee include a strong recommendation that a session dedicated to papers presented by graduate students in archival studies be on the annual program. The stated purpose of this session will be to ensure the participation of students, for whom it generally is not feasible to propose specific papers by the early autumn annual deadline for student proposals, as well as to give conference attendees access to the state-of-the-art work that is often accomplished by students. Greene seconded. PASSED.

PRESERVATION SECTION

Connors presented a progress report from the Preservation Section, submitted by Chair Diane Vogt-O'Connor.

INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVAL AFFAIRS ROUNDTABLE

Connors presented a proposal from the International Archival Affairs Roundtable requesting that SAA designate a part of the annual meeting budget to allow for travel support of a foreign archivist to attend the meeting. The Roundtable also requested that SAA provide funding for an international archivist reception.

Greene recommended that Council request that the Roundtable better define how it proposed to raise the funds. Greene also recommended that Council discuss the issue of how SAA handles international receptions and the many groups we want to target at the next Council meeting in August.

The meeting adjourned for the day at 5:40 pm.

SATURDAY, JUNE 1

ELECTRONIC VOTING PROTOCOL

Greene presented a redraft of the Guidelines for Use of the Council Listserv. He said the redraft reflected the years of experience in using the list since the guidelines were first instituted in 1997. He believed the process could become less formal and cumbersome. In addition, there was an underlying belief explicit in the guidelines that, because of the ability to confer and make decisions via the list, it was right and proper that Council make more decisions that previously were left to the Executive Committee.

Council deliberated on the pros and cons of discussions via electronic means. Hensen asked that Greene and Hirtle revise the draft in consideration of the discussion and present it again at the August Council meeting.

SAA COPYRIGHT POLICY Hirtle reported that Lawrence Lessig had started a new group called the Copyright Commons with the goal of convincing individuals and publishers to turn over their copyright to the public domain or to assign their copyright to public license 14 years after publication, respecting the original term of the founding fathers. O'Reilly publishers had agreed to join the Copyright Commons, which led him to wonder whether or not SAA should follow this example. Fox said SAA needed a copyright policy. Although the publications department negotiated copyrights on an individual basis, an association wide policy did not exist. Hensen referred the issue to the Intellectual Property Working Group with the inclusion of Teresa Brinati and charged them to develop a draft policy by the August Council meeting.

OLD BUSINESS

REVIEW OF SAA REPRESENTATION

Council reviewed the organizations to which the Society had appointed representatives and/or paid dues. Because it was the only regional to which SAA belonged, and because there were many equally deserving regional and local archival organizations, Haury moved that SAA drop membership in the Midwest Archives Conference. Pearce-Moses seconded. PASSED.

Greene moved that SAA discontinue membership in Heritage Preservation and the National Institute for Conservation. Adkins seconded. PASSED with Connors opposed.

STUDENT BENEFITS

Dooley presented her survey of benefits conducted among SAA student chapters. She noted that the SAA student chapter listserv was not an effective means of distribution due to its low usage. Most, if not all, of the responses received to date came from Council visits to student chapters.

She found students to be very positive about SAA during her chapter visits. She discovered that the students needed a clearer understanding of what is available to them. The value of the existence of student chapters was that they gave students an identity as emerging archival professionals. The chapter visits revealed the need for career help and job opportunities. The career center at annual meetings emerged as one benefit of importance. They also had practical concerns and their interest in SAA was very pragmatic. She also learned that students are very interested in beginning their continuing education while they were still in school, which revealed the need to hold SAA workshops at graduate institutions. Students also expressed a desire for more networking opportunities among themselves at the new member breakfast and other venues at the annual meeting.

Greene agreed with Dooley's observations and said on his chapter visit he discovered that career counseling, resume building, networking and publishing were top concerns. He echoed Dooley's observation of the desire for more time to network at annual meetings. He also said students should have a seat at the table during discussions of graduate education and continuing education guidelines. He said he was concerned that the student chapter listserv was moribund – perhaps one way to resurrect it would be for Council to begin participating as a further way of permitting and encouraging students to get to know leaders of the profession and to discuss archival questions. One idea might be to have a monthly online chat to give students the opportunity to talk with a member of Council.

Dooley said her conclusions from the survey were the need to raise awareness of SAA benefits and services – perhaps through an annual mailing – and the need to give the chapters clear goals. Chapter coordinators had the greatest investment in SAA. Therefore, Council liaisons should think about communication especially with that group.

Fox said she would begin posting student chapter reports on the Web site.

COMMITTEE ON ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT GUIDELINES

Hensen introduced a letter from SAA's lawyer outlining the legal implications of SAA's Ethics Guidelines, which were many.

Pearce-Moses said he supported the goal of an aspirational code and not have the Society engaged in enforcement.

Hensen appreciated the lawyer's analysis of the problematic interpretation within the Code of Ethics commentary. We are living in a litigious world. Dooley observed that some of the substance of the code is in the commentary.

Hensen asked, given the lawyer's comments regarding SAA liability, what are the next steps? He suggested removing the commentary from the code immediately and, as part of the revision of the code, ascertain how to work it back in. He also questioned whether there was a difference between best practices and ethical standards, an area the lawyer did not address.

Greene moved that, given the response by the attorney, Council suspend implementation of the ethics procedures, pending a response from the Committee on Ethics and Professional Conduct, to the suspension. Pearce-Moses seconded. PASSED. Fox said she would contact the lawyer to elicit more detail on which areas of the commentary the lawyer found problematic and why.

SECOND COUNCIL MEETING IN AUGUST

Haury raised the issue of the second Council meeting held during the annual meeting. He questioned its efficacy from a logistical point of view. The second meeting, held late Saturday afternoon, often necessitated an additional night's stay. Fox also observed that while this meeting originated as a way to officially welcome new Council members, it also often resulted in impaired decision-making due to exhaustion at the end of a very hectic week.

Council agreed it would be better to welcome the new Council members during an informal luncheon, where the orientation guidelines would also be reviewed for their benefit.

ADOPTION OF THE FY03 BUDGET

Adkins moved adoption of the FY03 budget as amended on May 31 and June 1. Dooley seconded. PASSED.

Adkins read the To Do List.

The meeting adjourned at 2:31 pm.

Approved by Council August 20, 2002